John
01-15-2011, 07:41 PM
Senior officers have defended the use of undercover operations following claims police withheld secret recordings that would have cleared accused protesters.
The comments by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) come after the trial of six environmental campaigners collapsed on Monday.
When prosecution lawyers first abandoned the case it appeared an undercover police officer who decided he wanted to support the activists had compromised the case.
But it has now emerged the case was scrapped because Nottinghamshire Police may have hidden evidence.
The force is accused of hiding tapes that "fatally undermined" the case against the protestors.
The activists were accused of trying to shut down one of Britain's biggest power stations - Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire in 2009.
The recordings were gathered by undercover officer Pc Mark Kennedy, who used the guise of a rock climber while monitoring the actions of the environmentalists across Europe.
PC Kennedy, a former member of the Metropolitan Police, is thought to have spent the last seven years as part of the environmental protest movement, and was known to activists as Mark Stone.
Mr Kennedy, who is now jobless and in hiding, has called in PR guru Max Clifford to tell his story.
Independent officials have now launched an investigation into whether police tried to cover up Mr Kennedy's role.
Nottinghamshire Police has also confirmed they would hold an internal review into the secret operation.
A force spokesman said: "The force has requested the investigation reviews all the elements of policing relating to this case, to establish whether they were carried out in an ethical and proportionate manner, within the expected code of practice."
The developments have sparked a wider debate on police tactics used to monitor political and environmental groups.
A spokeswoman for ACPO said: "The police service cannot operate effectively to prevent and detect crime unless it uses intelligence.
"The Police Service has an absolute commitment that the gathering and use of intelligence must be necessary, proportionate and lawful.
"Police officers are subject to the law and where they break the law in the course of their activities it will and must be investigated."
Source - Yahoo.
The comments by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) come after the trial of six environmental campaigners collapsed on Monday.
When prosecution lawyers first abandoned the case it appeared an undercover police officer who decided he wanted to support the activists had compromised the case.
But it has now emerged the case was scrapped because Nottinghamshire Police may have hidden evidence.
The force is accused of hiding tapes that "fatally undermined" the case against the protestors.
The activists were accused of trying to shut down one of Britain's biggest power stations - Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire in 2009.
The recordings were gathered by undercover officer Pc Mark Kennedy, who used the guise of a rock climber while monitoring the actions of the environmentalists across Europe.
PC Kennedy, a former member of the Metropolitan Police, is thought to have spent the last seven years as part of the environmental protest movement, and was known to activists as Mark Stone.
Mr Kennedy, who is now jobless and in hiding, has called in PR guru Max Clifford to tell his story.
Independent officials have now launched an investigation into whether police tried to cover up Mr Kennedy's role.
Nottinghamshire Police has also confirmed they would hold an internal review into the secret operation.
A force spokesman said: "The force has requested the investigation reviews all the elements of policing relating to this case, to establish whether they were carried out in an ethical and proportionate manner, within the expected code of practice."
The developments have sparked a wider debate on police tactics used to monitor political and environmental groups.
A spokeswoman for ACPO said: "The police service cannot operate effectively to prevent and detect crime unless it uses intelligence.
"The Police Service has an absolute commitment that the gathering and use of intelligence must be necessary, proportionate and lawful.
"Police officers are subject to the law and where they break the law in the course of their activities it will and must be investigated."
Source - Yahoo.